


Of Monsters and Men

by KristinStone



Series: Living and Breathing in Flint [7]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcoholics Anonymous, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Arranged Marriage, Car Accidents, F/M, Family Issues, Female Omega, Heat Suppressants, Hermit Alpha, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Male Alpha - Freeform, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Verse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Runaway Omega, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2019-12-26 22:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristinStone/pseuds/KristinStone
Summary: Cate couldn't stay and let her life be ruined. She would never marry the man her grandfather had picked out for her. No matter how wealthy and influencial he was, she would never become the mate of an Alpha more than three times her age. After endless arguments that only fell on deaf ears, her only chance to lead a self-determined life, is to escape her family's reach and try to make it on her own.It would have worked out if not for the deer on the road and the tree wrecking her stolen car in the middle of nowhere...





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Hello dear reader,
> 
> this is my 7th story in my omegaverse revolving around the fictional US metropolis Flint. This particular story is connected to my second story "Of Liars and Lovers" and will feature many of the characters already present in this series. I hope you will still be able to enjoy the story even if you haven't read all the other stories beforehand because I aim to have every story also work as a standalone. 
> 
> My universe does not include female Alphas, male Omegas, mpreg, shape shifters or werewolves, otherwise I would have tagged them in the beginning. 
> 
> I would love to thank my beta reader TheBluemoon who has been a huge help in getting the story to the state it is now. Lots of kudos go out to her for always being there with suggestions and helpful comments to improve my writing. Thank you so much!
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism are welcome, and I hope you'll enjoy the story to the fullest.

Cate’s hands were shaking as she gripped the steering wheel. Driving couldn’t be that difficult, surely. She needed to be quiet or her grandparents would wake up and her elopement would come to a sudden end before it had even began. She simply couldn’t stay here any longer.

Slowly, very slowly, the jeep rolled off her grandparents’ estate a little outside of Flint, the gravel crunching underneath the tires. Thankfully, nobody noticed the creaking front gate and she headed down the pitch black road. Only there she dared to turn on the headlights.

Her pulse jumped as she kicked down the gas pedal and the engine roared.

“Fuck,” Cate whispered and looked over her shoulder. She could still make out the colonial-style Hunter-estate, but none of the windows lit up signaling anyone had woken.

In her head, she went through her plan once again. Cate had turned off her phone in case anyone tried to track her through GPS. The bag on the passenger seat next to her held seven outfits, toiletries and all the cash her grandfather had had in his study safe. She hadn’t had the mind to count it, but the stacks of money should be enough to keep her alive for a couple of weeks.

Cate rolled down the window and let in the fresh night air. She was warm. Probably because she was still angry at her family. How could her grandfather assume, she was fine with becoming the mate of a seventy-something old Alpha? How dare he? Her heart pounded in her chest and her hands closed tightly around the cream-colored leather of the steering wheel. Her foot pressed down on the gas pedal unconsciously, letting the speedometer needle climb. An ancient man! He would need a walking stick or rollator for his walk down the aisle. And knowing her family, her grandfather would make a huge deal out of her Uncollaring. Everyone would know she would become the wife of a walking dead man!

Would have…. conjunctive mood. She won’t marry Mr. Alistair McGregor. She had fled; she was an Omega on the run. Her aunt had done the same seven years ago and nobody had known thanks to her uncle’s fear of a scandal that could’ve thrown dirt onto the Hunter-family name. She might carry another surname, but she was still the granddaughter of Jonathan Royce Hunter II. Let’s see if they would give her disappearance the silent treatment as well. As soon as she was settled somewhere, she would send her aunt Grace a short message that she was fine before doing the same for her little sister, and turn off the phone again.

With a cocky grin, Cate glanced at the speedometer and immediately moved her foot from the pedal. 50 mph was fast enough for her. She didn’t need to overdo it in her desire to get away as far as possible from everyone who wanted to give her to the old man.

Her plan was flawless. Omegas, no matter how young, could already be widowed and as long as they weren’t mated, they were free to do whatever they liked.

She repeated the story she would tell, if anyone asked her for any personal information, “My name is Kelly Meyers-Webb. My husband, Josh Webb, died in a car-crash a week after our second wedding anniversary on the 16th April. I’m 20 years old. I was born on the 10th September 1999 in Flint.”

That’s where most stories fell apart. Liars needed to calculate their birth year and that took more time than telling the truth. She had already done the math, but since she had never lived anywhere but in Flint, she had to stick with the only city she knew. If anyone asked her about her birthplace, she would tell them the truth, even though she would genderbend her little sister Lily into little Leo.

Ever since she had graduated from Woodlark Academy and her grandfather had told her about her mate-to-be, she had thought about her escape. Once she had found a place far enough away, she would park the car somewhere and whoever found it first could have it.

“My husband and I wanted to wait with the claiming until after our first child was born. But we never got that far,” she continued to tell her story, “He was a kind man, but like every couple we had our fights. I miss him very much. Fighting with him, bickering, the light snoring next to me when he had fallen asleep over a good book.”

Details, Cate thought and rolled the window up again. It’s all about the details.

After driving for an hour, she wasn’t scared of driving anymore, and actually enjoyed it. The road was empty, no other cars were around, which helped with her nervousness too. When there was no one else around, nobody could report her. Cate wanted to turn on the radio and got startled when the speakers suddenly let out a loud, high pitched screeching.

“What the -!” Cate turned down the volume and started searching for frequencies that worked so far outside of Flint. Thankfully, the jeep was intelligent enough that after pushing on the search-button once it scanned the channels by itself.

First channel played classical music, second one had a radio preacher talk about the sins of mankind on, the third one played some music she hadn’t heard in forever; mostly classic rock numbers her aunt Grace loved playing. She would miss her the most. Her and her uncle Jack, the only ones who had had the balls to turn their back on the family.

No, not the only ones, Cate thought and a smile spread across her face. She wasn’t going to sit and watch her grandfather sell her off like a breeding mare. Her life was ahead of her and there was no way that she would let an old man impregnate her just because her grandfather had business relations with him. This was the 21st century and Cate was part of a new generation of Omegas.

She passed through a few small towns whose names she couldn’t care less about and the side of the road showed more and more forest. The only thing she knew about her destination was North because that’s the direction she was heading. She wouldn’t make it past the Canadian border because even though she had come up with a whole new identity, she was still missing fake documents that would fool the cops or border patrol. Maybe when she had settled down somewhere. The only question that remained was if she wanted to move into a big city or stay in a small town. As an Omega, she would attract a lot of attention in a town, but a city held more dangers. Criminals, Alphas, or worse, people who might know her or her family.

Her schoolmates at Woodlark had been auctioned off or married off privately into all kinds of corners of the country. Being the strange girl, who’s mother stabbed her father had branded her for life. Everyone at Woodlark knew about the infamous sister, Cate and Lily Caine, no matter how much the teachers had tried to stop the gossip and ostracization. It had worked better with Lily than herself. Hopefully, her little sister was doing alright right now.

After another hour of simply driving straight ahead, the first light of the sunset colored the sky behind the tall tree tops grey. Tiredness slowly crept into her head and made her eyelids heavy. Maybe it was time to find a small b&b and rest for a few hours before she hit the road again. But she had no idea where the next motel was.

With a groan, she glanced at the bag next to her. Her phone was somewhere at the bottom of it. She needed it to search for a motel, needed to turn it on and leave a digital trace to her whereabouts. Or… she could find a parking site for hikers and spend the night in the car.

Cate hadn’t paid much attention to the road until she saw something from the corner of her eyes. Shocked, she looked ahead and stared right into the big brown eyes of a doe right in the middle of the street. Cate hit the brakes and ripped the steering wheel around as to not hit the deer. The next seconds seemed to play out in slow motion. She missed the animal, crossed the other lane and headed straight for a pine by the roadside. As the tree came closer, she realized, she would collide with it and the jeep had been too fast for it to be just  a little bump.

Instinct kicked in. She let go of the wheel and covered her belly with her hands. She wasn’t pregnant, but her brain was wired to protect her unborn children from any harm. The tree stopped the jeep immediately, the airbag blew up and pain shot through her chest and left shoulder. Cate let out a piercing scream and closed her eyes tightly. Her head was ringing, her arms still folded over her belly. She couldn’t tell how long she had been sitting there, only when the sound of the birds around her grew louder and the airbag had defloated again, she moved her hands.

Pain cut through her shoulder as she tried to lift her left hand. Cate couldn’t breathe through her nose. Her hands were covered in blood. Her head and neck were hurting. Only slowly, she realized what had just happened. Her car had crashed. She couldn’t drive away again. One look at the front of the jeep told her that the car wouldn’t move an inch from now on. Cate panicked. If someone came along, they would find her.

Blood from her nose ran down her face and dropped onto her lap. She needed to get away! The thoughts only came one by one. With her injured shoulder, she carefully pushed the driver’s door open, grabbed her bag, and stumbled away from the car wreck. The air was fresh, her breath ghosted in fleeting little clouds in front of her as she looked around, trying to orientate. Where had she come from again? Had she just imagined the deer?

The pain in her shoulder grew worse. Help. She needed to find help. But nobody could find her and bring her back to Flint. Tears filled her brown eyes. She stepped back and stumbled over a fallen branch.

“AH!” Cate screamed as she landed. Quickly, she covered her mouth and looked around. Had anyone heard?

If you call in the forest and there was nobody there to hear it, did you really make a sound? Cate shook her head. Why on earth was this the first thought in her brain right now? With a hiss, she stood up again. Her knees were hurting too, but it seemed they were only bruised. Cate grabbed her bag once again and headed into the woods at least far enough that she could hardly make out the street. If she followed the road, she would come by a town or at least a house where she could call a doctor. She had enough money to pay for their silence if need be.

She couldn’t tell how long or how far she had stumbled through the undergrowth, ripping at her clothes and scratching her skin until she bled there as well. The sunrise pink sky was hardly visible through the treetops, so when Cate suddenly caught light between the dark tree trunks, she almost let out a happy shout. Her pace quickened as hope bloomed in her chest. Someone lived out here. Someone who could help her.

Cate’s left shoulder still hurt and she suspected that it was simply dislocated. She had seen enough movies and shows to know that this wasn’t a problem. One hearty tug and the joint would pop back into place. Maybe they wouldn’t even have to call a doctor. Her nose had stopped bleeding some time ago.

Everything would be fine, Cate told herself and finally arrived at the log cabin with light behind the windows. Someone was home.


	2. Help

Cate didn’t think about the potential danger she stumbled right into. She had just crashed her grandfather’s car somewhere between Flint and the Canadian border. She was injured and hoped that whoever lived in this cabin in the middle of the woods wasn’t a psycho, but decent enough to help her. Climbing the steps up onto the creaking porch up on the second floor, she knocked on the door.

“Hello!?” Cate knocked again after nothing happened. “Hello! Please, can you -”

The door suddenly swung open and a tall man with an undeniable Alpha scent stood in front of her. His dark brown eyebrows drew together and his nostrils flared as he scanned her from her tossled hair to her mud-crusted Chelsea boots.

“Please, I need help,” Cate said and closed her hand tightly around the handle of her bag. Everything she owned was in there, and she was no match to him if he tried to take her belongings from her.

“Come in,” the Alpha grumbled and stepped aside, letting her into a mudroom filled with ...well, muddy shoes and jackets in varying thicknesses, but they all smelled of him. He seemed to live alone. She jumped a little when he slammed the door shut and motioned for her to go ahead into the kitchen-living room with the crackling black steel furnace and a big dog sleeping on the corner couch. Cate swallowed and tasted her dried blood on her lips.

She watched the man with eagle eyes. He didn’t even look at her when he moved around in the kitchen, pulling a steaming coffee maker from the hearth and retrieving a first aid kit from below the sink before he came closer again.

“What happened?” he asked and pulled out a chair from the rustic dining table for her.

“I… I don’t know,” she lied, sitting down while keeping her eyes on him only.

The Alpha nodded, but he seemed to have looked right through her. He pulled out a second chair and sat across from her while unpacking the first aid kit.

“Do you remember your name?” he asked in an even, deep voice.

Kelly Meyers-Webb. “Cate.”

“Hello Cate, my name is Malcolm.” He smiled at her shortly, but it didn’t reach his hazel eyes. He hid something. He wasn’t trustworthy. As soon as she could, she would leave again.

“You look like you’ve been in a car accident.”

“My husband died in one,” she blurted out and pressed her lips to a thin line. Crap.

“Was he in the car with you?”

“No, I… he -” What was she doing here? She had worked on her story so hard and this stupid deer had destroyed everything.

“Okay, listen, Cate, this is going to burn now,” Malcolm warned and brought an antiseptic cloth to her nose. The smell stung a little, but nothing else. His free hand came up to her cheek to keep her head steady and Cate stared at him as if he had just stuck his hand under her sweater to feel her up. How dare he touch her just like that? Though, as soon as his hand made contact with her skin, she almost sighed when she felt how warm he was. And only now she realized how cold she was in comparison. Walking around in the frosty dawn air, and her partial blood loss had left her ice-cold.

“Alright, your nose doesn’t seem to be broken,” he murmured and used his hand on her cheek now to lift and guide her head as he looked for more minor injuries. “Do you hear me well?”

She nodded as much as his gentle grasp on her allowed it. He was handsome in a scrubby sort of way with his scanty beard and an almost healed up cut in his right eyebrow. She wouldn’t mind having him as her betrothed, she suddenly thought but dismissed it as her natural reaction to an Alpha in the prime of his life. She gauged him to be in his early thirties, with no trace of grey in his dark brown, short trimmed hair. If she remembered correctly, her uncle Jack had already had grey temples at this age.

“Are your ears ringing?”

His question caught her a little off guard, but she quickly gathered her wits and replied, ”They were, but not anymore.”

His nose was a little big for his long face, but since she was blessed with sticky-out ears below her chestnut hair she better kept quiet.

“Are you feeling dizzy?”

Cate shook her head and suddenly the room started spinning. When she wanted to grip the table for stabilization, his hand accidentally brushed her left shoulder and she cried out in pain.

“You need to see a doctor.” Malcolm stood up and moved across the room to his smart phone next to the quietly humming fridge when Cate jumped up with a “NO!”

“Your shoulder is dislocated.” He typed a number into his phone just before Cate snatched it from him, gritting her teeth against the fresh bolt of pain shooting through her body.

“It’s nothing,” she lied, sweat forming on her forehead and upper lip, “Just pull on it and it will relocate. I’ve seen it in movies a million times. As soon as that’s done, I’ll be gone again. I promise. Please, don’t call an ambulance. It’s nothing, really.”

Malcolm frowned and held out his hand. “Hand me my phone back, please.”

That was his only concern? Cate looked down to the phone and determined it wasn’t the latest model, so he was either not interested in new technology or he didn’t have much money.

“I have money.”

“Good for you. Most Omegas do,” he snapped and glared at her, “Now, hand me back my phone. I’m not gonna call an ambulance.”

“Promise?”

He growled lowly, threateningly, and her body reacted immediately. She wanted to duck her head between her shoulders to show submissiveness, but this only caused more pain. This new ripple of distress distracted her enough that he simply took his phone from her and put it into the back pocket of his jeans.

“Did you run away from your owner or why don’t you want me to call authorities? Will he knock on my door in a couple of minutes with the whole county police in his back?!”

“My owner?” How dare he? Cate’s pulse quickened with the anger pumping through her veins. “I am nobody’s property!”

“Then how is it that Alphas _buy_ Omegas?” he hissed and stepped closer. “You need to get your head out of your ass, missy. If I rip on your arm -which will be fucking painful to begin with- and it doesn’t slide back into place perfectly, you might lose all feeling in that limb. I will call the local doctor now. She’s trustworthy, believe me.”

Cate slowly sat down again and let her head hang. She had no other choice. With closed eyes, she listened to him calling the doctor, giving her some key information for equipment, she would probably need. She sucked in a deep breath and swayed on the chair, tiredness and exhaustion crawling into her muscles. The smell of charred wood, fire and coffee made for a nice mixture, especially with his masculine scent through it all.

“She’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” Malcolm told her and carefully placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder, causing Cate to look up again. “Do you want to move over to the couch. I can tell Bella to get down.”

Upon hearing her name, the snoring labrador woke and lifted her heavy head. Only then she noticed the new person in the room and got up from the couch. Well, rolling off of it would be a better description. This dog was fat, yet, she seemed very friendly as she yawned and stretched before waddling closer while whacking her tail in time with her short steps.

“Seems like she already offered her place.”

Malcolm removed the wool blanket from the couch and folded it so that the side covered in beige dog hair wasn’t touching anything else. From the backrest, he pulled another blanket and made sure it was tugged into the gap between the seat and the back cushions. He looked at her expectantly and Cate wasn’t in the mood to fight him. She had learned her lesson from the growl before.

Bella rested her heavy head on Cate’s lap though and made it impossible to stand up without disturbing her. She managed a small smile and petted the labrador’s scalp. She had always wanted a dog, but her mother hadn’t allowed it.

The Alpha whistled once and Bella looked at him with big, brown eyes, and duck her head with a small tail-whacking.

“No, Bella, don’t give me that look. You have a perfectly usable dog bed so use it,” he commanded and pointed at a plush looking dog bed next to the furnace. Bella let out something between the moan and a huff and waddled off into bed.

Cate stood up and carefully walked over to the couch. Her knees still hurt and she was certain that below her ripped pants her skin was all shades of black and blue.

“Do you want something to drink?” Malcolm asked once she had taken her seat on the surprisingly comfortable couch. “I have some tea and coffee of course, but no milk.”

“What kind of tea?” Cate asked and looked up at his towering form.

He left without a word and rounded the small kitchen corner before opening the cabinet above the sink. “Black tea and chamomile.”

Both disgusting, especially the black tea without any milk in it. “Chamomile, please.”

Looking him over her shoulder hurt after a few minutes, so she turned her head straight and watched the last bits of wood glimmer in the steel furnace. This thing actually served a function and wasn’t for show like most fireplaces these days. Bella kept a close eye on her, waiting for her chance to get some more attention from Cate.

Just as Malcolm was about to hand her the steaming mug of tea, the dog suddenly barked, startling Cate while the Alpha sat down the cup on the kitchen counter between them. The fat dog fought her way out of the dog bed and waddled towards the entrance door.

“This must be Dr. West,” he told Cate and let in a short woman with a round face and figure, and the first couple of grey streaks in her ash blonde hair.

“Where’s our patient?” she asked in a fairy-godmother voice and searched the cabin for Cate. As soon as their eyes met, the Omega relaxed. A Beta with a friendly face was just what she needed right now. Cate moved slightly to the side and gave Dr. West more space to sit next to her. “Hello, love, you look mighty roughed up. Wanna tell me what happened?”

“I had a car accident,” she replied and watched as Malcolm took a seat at the dining table.

Dr. West followed her gaze and smiled at the Alpha. “Would you mind giving us some privacy? I’m gonna have to ask her to undress anyway. Get out.”

Malcolm grumbled something unintelligible and moved into the back of the cabin, leaving the two women alone. Dr. West offered Cate a sweet smile and unpacked the small suitcase she had brought with her. “How about we fix that shoulder of your first? It would of course be much easier if we were in a hospital with nurses and an x-ray.”

Cate shook her head, mindful of the dizziness it had caused before. “No hospital.”

“If you wanna tell me something, I’m very good at keeping secrets. Sworn to confidentiality and all that jazz.” She pulled out blunt medical scissors. “I’ll have to remove your sweater now to see all the damage, okay?”

Cate swallowed and nodded. Her aunt had bought her this sweater right after returning from school. The alternative was pulling it off over the head and that was unthinkable with her aching shoulder.

Dr. West smiled at her once more and began snipping off her grey sweater and the left strap of her bra to get unhindered access to her chest and shoulder. “You’ve been the driver, I see.”

Dr. West peeled the sweater material back and carefully ghosted her hand across her chest where her safety belt had left a dark bruise. “How come an Omega is driving around alone? Were you on your way somewhere?”

Cate remained silent. Not because she was afraid of telling another obvious lie, but because she clenched her teeth together to braze herself against the coming pain.

“Alright, this is gonna hurt. I apologize beforehand.” Dr. West placed her hand tightly around Cate’s wrist and the other around her shoulder. This already was torture, but the Omega turned her head away and screwed her eyes shut. The second the doctor started, everything else faded against the immense pain that flooded Cate’s nervous system. Cate didn’t know how long it took for the pressure to stop. When it finally did, her cheeks were wet with tears. The pain was over, but as soon as she wanted to move her arm, Dr. West stopped her.

“No, I’ll have you wear a sling for the next couple of days to keep the shoulder still. I’ll give you something for the pain and be back to check on you in two days, alright?”

She would have to stay here for two days? Another look into the direction Malcolm had disappeared in to make sure he was still gone. Cate didn’t trust him. He was odd, living out here in the forest all by himself like a hermit.

“He’s not going to harm you. Malcolm looks and talks all rough, but he’s the finest man from here to Flint,” Dr. West assured her, but she was a stranger too. Even though Cate had made the conscious decision to run away from everyone and everything she knew, trusting strangers was against her nature as an Omega.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna tell me something?”

Cate slowly shook her head, still clenching her teeth tightly. Dr. West pressed her lips to a thin line and sighed through her nose. She pulled a modern medical sling out of her suitcase and carefully placed Cate’s arm in it before handing her a small pill package. “Take one of these every four to six hours for the next two days. If the pain is getting worse or you experience any swelling, tell Malcolm to call me and I’ll be up here as quickly as I can. They’re gonna make you sleepy though.”

The Omega took the package and nodded. She was already sleepy so those pills would probably knock her out.

“And I’ll tell Malcolm to keep a close eye on you because of those bruises across your chest. If you feel odd, tell him. There’s a chance of internal bleeding.”

Cate nodded but had hardly listened. With the pain in her shoulder now dulled down quite a bit, her tiredness became close to unbearable. She pulled the blanket over her exposed body and leaned back against the couch cushions.

“Okay, sweetie,” Dr. West started and got up. “I’ll get you some water and you pop a pill before you go to sleep.”

Cate accepted the glass of water, but needed a moment to realize what she was supposed to do with it. Her throat was dry, so swallowing the pill was harder than expected, but as soon as it was done, she would finally be able lay down and rest.

His scent told her Malcolm had re-entered the room before she heard his hushed voice. “So, did you get anything out of her?”

“No, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“When can she leave again?” Malcolm grumbled.

“A couple of days, maybe a week or two. Maybe even longer.”

“Weeks? What the fuck am I supposed to do with her here? If anyone sniffs her out, they’ll think I kidnapped her or some shit!”

“Then she’ll tell them that’s not the case, calm down.” There was rustling at the end of the couch and steps heading away from her. Dr. West was leaving again. “She needs your help, Malcolm. As soon as she’s fine again, she’ll leave. She doesn’t strike me as a troublemaker. There’s no harm in being a good guy for a while.”

A door was opened and closed, and suddenly Cate only heard one person’s breathing. She was alone with him and the effects of the painkillers kicked in. Her body felt heavy, making it impossible to move or even open her eyelids. She couldn’t fight him off if he tried something; she was completely at his mercy.


	3. Truth

When Cate woke up again, she panicked. This didn’t smell like home, it shot through her head and she sat up, forgetting but being swifty remembered that she still had an injured shoulder.

She cried out in pain and screwed her eyes shut, breathing against the ache. Suddenly, she felt something touch her hand and she jumped. Bella took a surprised step back and lowered her head in apology.

Cate heart beat fast as she looked around and remembered. She had fled. She had crashed the car. Malcolm, Cate recalled. She was with an Alpha right now. Well, not _with_ him, but …

“You okay?” Cate heard from across the room. Malcolm stood in the open kitchen, casually leaning against the counter and sipping what smelled like very dark and bitter coffee.

She nodded and watched his frown deepen. He didn’t believe her obvious lie.

“How’s your shoulder?” There was something mocking in his voice, calling her out.

“Hurting,” she replied with a weak attempt of a lopsided smile.

“I’ll get you something to drink.” He turned around and pulled a fresh glass from one of the cabinets. “And maybe you wanna get dressed.”

He pointed down a small hallway past the dining table. “Bathroom’s the second door on the right.”

Cate looked down on herself and immediately pulled the blanket up again. She had forgotten that Dr. West had cut the sweater off her body. Without a word, she grabbed her bag and rushed into the bathroom. It looked just as home made as most of the rest in the cabin. Maybe he had built it all himself? Probably. If so, then she was impressed. A maker, she thought and the bitter taste of resentment filled her mouth, not just a talker like her grandfather.

In the rather sparse lighting of the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the sink and gasped. She looked like someone had beaten her up badly. There was dried blood around her nose and mouth, a couple of drips had even run down her neck. Malcolm had wiped some away before but only what had been on the bridge of her nose to look for fractures. Her chest didn’t look any better. Straight across her torso, she sported a mean looking bruise her seat belt had left on her pale skin. Cate hovered her fingertips above the dark purple, muddy brown discoloration where the material had dug into her. It was hideous.

Hunching over the basin, she moaned lowly at a new wave of pain radiating from her damn shoulder. She should’ve remembered to bring the pills in here. A few more minutes wouldn’t kill her though. Cate looked down on her and chewed the inside of her cheek. Her mutilated bra clung lopsided to her body. The underwire dug painfully into her bruised skin. Taking it off to wash herself was easy. She had done it one-handed a hundred times while brushing her teeth at night. But what when she wanted to redress? Bra or no bra, that was the question. She wouldn’t get a strap over the medical sling. No, she wouldn’t even be able to close the back by herself and she would definitely not ask the Alpha to help her. So, no bra it was.

Cate washed her face and body, the water needing forever to grow hot or even remotely warm. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the only sweat jacket she had packed and zipped it up so high that all but her neck was covered. Of course, she had left her collar home in an act of rebellion: she had uncollared herself and didn’t need no Alpha to do that! Now she regretted it because she practically flashed Malcolm her unmarked neck the whole time, teasing and tempting him.

Getting on her yoga pants with only one functioning arm wasn’t as difficult as she had feared, but brushing her hair was, because no matter in what direction she moved her neck, her left shoulder always seemed to be affected.

It took her forever to wash and change into fresh clothes, but when she was finally done, she couldn’t wait to get her hands on another painkiller to dull the pulsing in her coursing through her body. She was also due for another nap. Cate was on her way back into the main room of the cabin, when she heard several male voices and stopped dead in her tracks. Had her grandfather somehow found her? Was her phone still sending out her position? She pressed her body against the wall and carefully snuck closer towards the end of the hallway to hear what the men were talking about.

“What can I do for you, Sheriff?”

“There’s been an accident on the route to East Carbon.” Fuck, they had found her car. “Looks like the driver made it out, but there was blood on the inside. The jeep smelled of Omega.”

The sheriff drew out the last word like it should trigger something in Malcolm.

“As you can see, my car hasn’t been in an accident lately. You could’ve seen that from outside. Why bother me?” Malcolm said and sounded more than pissed, but still in control of himself.

“Because your house is the closest to the crash site. So, you’re saying you didn’t see anyone?”

“No, nobody.”

Her heart beat so loud, she was certain they would hear it.

“Mr. Jaeger, would you mind letting us in to see if you are alone?” a third, younger voice said.

“Yes, actually. I do. Do you have a search warrant or what do you ground your request on?”

“The prominent smell of blood coming from inside your house for example,” the sheriff replied immediately and Cate closed her eyes. They were busted.

“I have a fresh deer in my curing chamber. Wanna come and check if I didn’t accidentally shot an Omega and gutted her instead?” Heavy steps came closer and suddenly Malcolm stood right in front of her, blocking her from view and with seething anger in his eyes. He pushed Cate back gently a few steps and opened a small door in front of her, effectively hiding her from the policemen following him. The smell of blood, fresh meat and deer suddenly hit her like a fist in the face, but she quickly covered her nose and mouth and stayed silent.

“See, a deer, not an Omega,” Malcolm said annoyed with his back to Cate to make sure the two men in uniform wouldn’t even see her if they stood right in front of the curing chamber.

“Alright, Mr. Jaeger, we had to make sure you had nothing to do with the Omega’s disappearance. Apparently, the car belongs to an important business man from Flint and so did the young lady probably,” said the sheriff and the steps moved away again.

“Even if that Omega had come by, I wasn’t home last night until early this morning,” Malcolm replied and Cate was impressed how calm he remained.

“Where were you?” the younger man questioned him further and tried to sound especially authoritarian.

There was silence for a moment and Cate feared that the sheriff might have gotten a whiff of her telling, sweet scent above the stench of blood and game, and would come check behind the curing chamber door eventually. But when Malcolm spoke again, she heard the reason; shame.

“I was with my court ordered support group in Belle Meade,” Malcolm replied in a low voice.

“Your rapist support group or AA?” the younger man asked and chuckled.

Cate was sure she had misheard. Malcolm was a rapist? No. He couldn’t be. He hadn’t touched her. Or had he while she had been out like a light, laying on his couch without being able to remember a thing? Had he taken her virginity?

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened as panic rushed through her veins.

No, she shook her head and took a deep breath to calm down again. She had just washed herself and she wasn’t sore or had found any blood or other ...stuff on her inner thighs. This had to be a sick joke from this uniformed asshole.

“The sex offender’s one, yes.”

No.

“And that took the whole night?” the douchebag asked, sounding like he didn’t believe him one bit.

“Yes, but as you very well know I am not allowed to tell you anything more. Go and check the security footage of the cameras in the community center. I wasn’t home until after sunrise.”

Alright, he wasn’t lying. She had crashed during sunrise and had taken a while to get here. His alibi was watertight if they didn’t somehow find out when exactly she had wrecked the jeep.

“We’ll check, Mr. Jaeger,” douchebag said and Cate could hear the smug grin of his face while the sheriff only wished him a nice day. As soon as the door was closed, Malcolm’s heavy steps came closer rapidly. He banged the curing chamber door shut and stopped mere inches in front of her.

“Who the fuck are you?” he hissed and used his height to intimidate her.

Cate took a step back further into the hallway and shook her head. “Oh no, you tell me what the fuck they just said. You’re a rapist?”

The disbelief in her voice sounded almost comical. He had been decent, even kind, to her!

At the mention of that nasty word, Malcolm wrinkled his nose in disgust and swallowed thickly. All of the sudden, he couldn’t meet her eyes anymore. “I am.”

“Who? Why? I don’t get it! You are-”

“You don’t know me, so you can stop right there assuming some shit about me, rich girl!” he cut her off and turned around, striding into the kitchen and leaning onto the sink.

He always kept his distance, Cate realized and followed him with a couple feet between them. Suddenly the dull pounding in her shoulder didn’t matter anymore.

“Who?” she asked, her voice as soft as she could make it.

“An Omega,” he growled through clenched teeth.

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to.” He turned around and crossed his arms over his broad chest, cocking out his chin as he continued, “And I enjoyed every second of it.”

“Would you rape me?” She swallowed down the rising fear that fluttered in her stomach and made her feel nauseous. He didn’t answer, just looked her up and down multiple times. “It that supposed to be a yes?”

“What’s your actual name because I don’t wanna call you Cate anymore.”

“Cate is my real name and don’t change topics! Will you-”

“No, I will not. I don’t go to those support groups to get back into prison!” Malcolm roared and shook his head with a death glare. “Whose fucking car did you steal?”

When she didn’t answer, he finally had enough. Without a word, he grabbed the bag from her hand and ignored her protest as he strode over to the entrance door and simply dumped her belongings on the front porch.

“Get out. I’m not gonna give a criminal refuge a second longer.”

“I am not a criminal,” Cate claimed even though, technically she had jacked the jeep. She didn’t dare go outside the house to retrieve her bag, fearing he would simply bang the door shut behind her.

“Listen, if you ran from your abusive husband, mate or whatever, then go to the police and tell the sheriff your story. You’ll be fine.”

“The same sheriff who just harassed you?”

Malcolm rolled his eyes. “Sheriff Nelson is alright, it’s only his little deputy schmoozers who is a fucking pain in the ass.”

“I’m not married or mated, but I ran. That… that’s all I wanna say about it.” If she told him who she really was, she feared he would only see the money her family had and simply drag her back to her grandfather. She couldn’t risk it.

Cate looked down to her feet and regretted it immediately. Her almost forgotten shoulder started hurting again. Apparently, her scent gave her current state away, prompting Malcolm to pull the bag back inside and close the door. He squeezed past her and filled a glass with water and handed it to her along the painkillers.

They would make her sleepy, Cate thought and hesitated.

“What are you afraid of?” Malcolm asked with an unreadable expression on his face.

“What you might do when I’m asleep.”

“Afraid of what I might do to you or who I might call on you?”

She looked down to the pill in her hands. “Both.”

“If I’d wanted to do something I would’ve already,” Malcolm said with a huff.

“But, now I know.”

“So?” He shrugged and arched an eyebrow. “Here’s the thing, I’m still the same person you asked for help this morning.” He shook his head and continued in a lower voice as if talking to himself, “I should’ve closed the door immediately after sniffing you. I shouldn’t even talk to you.”

He pushed off the counter he leaned against and brushed past her. “Leave, or stay until you’re better and Dr. West says you’re free to go again. I don’t care, just don’t get me into prison.”

Cate could smell something in his scent she had never smelled before, especially not on an Alpha, but it made her want to comfort him. Before she could say or do anything though, he had already disappeared behind one of the other doors leading off the hallway. Malcolm didn’t want her here, but he would let her stay anyway. The aching in her shoulder pulled her out of her head again and Cate decided, he was right. He could have hurt her before or declined her plea for help. Instead he had called Dr, West for her and had hid her from the police before. And he went to the meetings to become a better man, a better Alpha.

She couldn’t help but compare him to her father. He had been a monster even though she had only realized later in her young life. Cate had believed her parents that her mother had just been clumsy when she’d had a new set of bruises below her long sleeves or high collars. Nicholas Caine had loved his daughters, but he had hated his wife. There was no other explanation for what he did to her for over a decade before her mother had finally snapped.

Cate shook internally thinking about her parents. She usually tried to avoid it, but now with Malcolm, things just came back to her. Without thinking another second, she took the pill and returned to the couch to lay down again. While she had been in the bathroom, Malcolm must have reignited the steel furnace to keep the cabin nice and toasty for her.

She watched the orange flames eat away the logs in the furnace and quickly felt the pill unfold its power again. The pain vanished and her eyelids became heavier and heavier before she eventually drifted off to sleep again.

Unlike the first nap, this time she dreamed.

_Cate was back at her other uncle’s, Rick’s house. It was Christmas and everyone was there. Her grandparents, her parents and Lily, and both uncles with their Omega wives. It was picture perfect. Cate wandered through the dream like she was an outsider. She knew what would happen. Even in her dream state, she felt panic rise in her chest. Where had her mother and uncle Jack gone? Her father would be mad. Daddy always got mad, then Mommy would cry. It had always been like that._

_“Mum!” she cried, but nobody paid her any attention. “MUM!”_

_Still, everyone ignored her. Cate turned around and suddenly she saw it. A wave, much like a tsunami, rolled towards the house. It was blood. She wanted to shout, warn, tell everyone to get out, but she couldn’t breathe. Her voice failed her. When she turned around to show her family what was about to hit them, they were gone except for two figures. Her mother, holding a glistening knife, and her father with his hand raised high to strike._

_The windows burst, blood flooded the room. Her father’s white shirt soaked through, her mother’s dress clung wetly to her frame. She wanted to shout, but couldn’t._

“NO! No, MUM!”

“Cate! Wake up!”

Her lungs filled with air and her eyes snapped open. Within a heartbeat, she sat upright and looked around.

“Blood, there was blood everywhere!” she screamed hysterically until her eyes found Malcolm’s.

“It was just a dream, Cate,” he said lowly, only a smidge away from a comforting purr. He held his hands in a soothing manner, showing her he meant no harm. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

She shook her head and sniffed against the tears that wanted to spill. Those dreams hadn’t haunted her in years, but now that she was out of Flint, away from her dysfunctional family, they came back as if to remind her that she would never be free, no matter how far she ran.

She sucked in a shaky breath and pulled her knees to her chest, being swiftly reminded that her knees were also bruised like most the rest of her weak body. Right now, she really believed it. She was weak and broken, on the inside and out.


	4. The Tale of Alice Jackson

Cate wanted to call Grace and tell her the dreams were back. She glanced at her bag by the end of the couch. Somewhere in there, her phone waited for its turn to give her current position away. Her blood still rushed in her ears from the nightmare and she hated the feeling that pooled in her stomach right now.

Guilt.

She knew her father was abusing her mother. Yes, she had only been eleven when her mum had snapped and killed him. But if Cate had only told someone, maybe she could have saved them. Her father from his grave and her mother from the psychiatric ward where she’s been for the last seven years.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. Malcolm still knelt next to her, worry contorting his face. “Are you alright?”

Cate nodded and wiped her cheeks dry with her sleeve. He slowly stood up and moved into the kitchen to get working on what looked like dinner. Was he going to cook for her too? He had said, he didn’t care if she stayed or left. Yet, he cared enough to wake her from a nightmare and now make her dinner as well.

“Are you a vegetarian?”

Cate shook her head and watched him over the back of the couch.

“Good, makes things easier. As you’ve heard, I’m a hunter.” Malcolm nodded to the curing chamber. “I own a good portion of this forest and need to make sure the deer don’t overpopulate the area.”

She remembered the doe on the road and understood what he meant. The Alpha pulled a fresh piece of meat out of the fridge and the smell of blood made Cate feel nauseous. When she closed her eyes, she could see her father’s empty, dead eyes look up at the ceiling while her mother still hovered over him.

“Can you tell me a story or something?” she asked and swallowed against the stomach acid creeping up her esophagus.

“Do I look like a fairytale book?” Malcolm replied with a huffed laugh. “I’m already cooking for you. Don’t get greedy, rich girl.”

“Please, I need to think of something other than …my nightmare.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder and regarded her pale face for a moment. “You sure, you don’t wanna talk about it? Something happened with you mother?”

“No, please. I can’t-” Cate plead was cut short when she couldn’t bare the smell of copper anymore. She got up and hurried to the bathroom. Thankfully, she didn’t throw up though. Being away from the bloody meat was already enough to calm her stomach again. She still waited until she heard the hiss of hot oil as Malcolm placed the steaks in the pan before she returned to the couch and sat down without meeting his gaze.

“Are you pregnant?” he asked bluntly and crossed his arms over his chest.

“No.” She was still a virgin, for fuck’s sake. She went to an all-girls school and as soon as she had graduated, her grandparents hadn’t let her out of their sight.

“Alright, what kind of a story do you wanna hear?”

“Turned into a fairytale book all of the sudden?” Cate replied with a small smirk and side glance.

“Alright, no story.” Malcolm turned his back to her and shrugged. “Had a pretty good local folk story up my sleeve, but Miss Sarcasm is feeling feisty.”

“No, I wanna hear it! Please.” She didn’t care if it was a boring story, all she wanted was company and distraction.

His chuckle started so quietly, she hardly heard. “Alright.”

Cate shuffled a little closer against the curve of the L-shaped corner couch and snuggled into the cushions like she used to do as a little girl when her father had read her and Lily tales of dwarves and princesses.

Malcolm didn’t stop his work in the kitchen, when he started talking. “It’s a ghost story. You up for that?”

“Always!”

This time his chuckle was louder and she smiled automatically. The deep sound helped her relax her tense muscles.

“Some time in the mid-1800s a young Omega called Alice Jackson and her wealthy family lived in Belle Meade. They were one of the most influential families around, the rulers of this county more or less.”

Sounded like her family, only that they ruled Flint together with about five other entrepreneur families.

“Sweet Alice was a beauty beyond compare. She could have had anyone she wanted, the richest men with the vastest lands and piles of money, but she wanted a simple man. The blacksmith’s youngest son, Edward, had captured her heart like no other ever would. Of course her family was less than happy with the match and they hatched a fateful plan to separate the young lovers before she could ruin her prospects.

“So, while she was eating her dinner, saying her prayers like a good Christian lamb with her mother and sisters, her father and a couple gentlemen who hoped for Alice’s affection headed out to visit Edward in the smithy to make him an offer. The old man agreed to pay him more than the boy would ever make in a lifetime, if only he left Belle Meade and forgot about Alice. The young lover refused but Mr. Jackson didn’t take no for an answer.”

Suddenly Malcolm stopped and slid a steaming mug across the kitchen counters between them. “Sugar? One teaspoon or more?”

Cate needed a second to understand. Tea, chamomile from the smell of it. While cooking a meal for them, he had also been kind enough to make her a cup of calming tea. Whoever said that men weren’t capable of multitasking was a liar with regards to Malcolm. She smiled widely and lifted two fingers. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He flipped the steaks and continued with the story, “When Edward wouldn’t agree to more money or even a house somewhere in another county, Alice’s father lost his nerve and pushed Edward’s face into the gleaming red coals by the anvil. The screams of the boy could be heard for miles.

“Alice dropped her spoon into the soup and looked over to her mother upon hearing it. She asked where her father had gone and her mother’s silence spoke for itself. When Alice wanted to get up and run to the smithy, her mother commanded the servants to lock her daughter in her room until her father’s return. The young Omega fought with teeth and claws but was no match to the servants dragging her upstairs and into her chamber.”

Cate knew what it felt like to be a prisoner in her own home, so she hoped Alice had found a way to escape just like she had.

“When Mr. Jackson realized what he had done, panic struck and prompted him to make a fateful decision before anyone could come and witness. He locked the boy, still in agony and pain, inside the smithy and set the house on fire.”

Cate stared at him with wide eyes as she slowly pulled her tea close and tested the temperature with a careful sip.

“He and his companions stood by and watched as the boy burned alive. He swore the others to keep quiet about the events of that night and they parted ways. When he came home and  Alice was finally released from her prison, she didn’t want to hear a single word from her father. With nothing but her gown on, she ran all the way to the smithy. All she found there were the blackened foundation walls of the former building. It had burned to the ground, leaving behind a pile of ash and soot. The charred remains of her Edward lay in the middle of the skeleton of bricks and smoking piles of wood.

“The locals say, she stood over him and cursed the whole town, each man, woman and child who wouldn’t let her have her happiness. Alice swore to avenge her Edward’s death and make his murderers suffer just as much and more as he had in his final moments. She blackened her face and hair with the soot and ashes. Never should a man look at her and find her beautiful or kind. Her beauty had died with Edward,” Malcolm whispered the last sentence and gave Cate, who was glued to his lips, a piercing look. He dragged the pan from the stove and pulled a loaf of bread out from one of the counters between them.

“What happened next? Did she get her revenge?”

He snickered as he cut off thick slices of the bread. “Alice walked into the woods, lurking behind the trees, waiting for her chance until she became one with the darkness. Whenever a man had to cross the forest to head to the market in East Carbon, he prayed he wouldn’t smell it.”

“Smell what?” Cate whispered, completely sucked into the story. This was better than greedy dwarves and princesses that needed saving. Much better.

“Ash.” Malcolm breathed out the word and gave her a wicked grin. “It is said, if a man from Belle Meade smelled ash in the air where there should only be the smell of rain or wood upon his return home, he would find nothing but a pile of smoking ashes where his life used to be. No house, wife or child was spared.”

Malcolm served the steaks with homemade herb butter and a healthy slice of bread, and waited for Cate to join him at the dinner table before he started eating.

“That’s the end?”

The steak was so tender, she could pull it apart with only her fork. Cate wolfed the food down like she hadn’t eaten in weeks; it was delicious.

“No,” he dug into the steak and continued after swallowing the piece of meat, “There are stories of people who saw the houses burn to the ground. They say as soon as the agonizing cries of the victims inside had died down, they saw a woman in a white gown and with blackened features wander through the flames who didn’t harm her.

“Even today when there’s a fire in Belle Meade, some people swear they see her wandering through the flames.”

“Is this the woods she disappeared in?” she wanted to know when she was done eating and leaned back in her chair.

“Seems like you were hungry.” Malcolm was halfway through his own dinner, “Want seconds? I have more walnut bread if you like.”

“Oh, yes. Please.”

The Alpha stood up and cut another two slices from the loaf and handed them to her.

“Actually, they are. The woods, I mean.”

“And you never smelled ash when travelling through the woods?” she asked nervously and had some difficulties spreading the herb butter on the bread until Malcolm wordlessly assisted her by pinning the bread down securely with his knife.

“I never did her any wrong. I’m not a local, so none of my ancestors were involved in the killing of her loves one.”

“Where are you from originally?” Cate thanked him and nibbled at the buttered bread.

“Flint, born and raised.”

Oh, a neighbor, she thought and slowed her chewing. She tried to keep her voice even and not give away anything about her own past in the big city. “Why move out here into a cabin in the cursed woods?”

“Well, for one, I didn’t know about the ghost story when I bought the land, but that explains why it was so cheap and none of the locals bother me too much. Second, I couldn’t bear the stink in the city anymore. You know how people always talk about a fresh ocean breeze? They have never spent a hot day next to Bond River or the bay. That water is disgusting.”

He had a point there. Woodlark was in the middle of a lush forest, much like his cabin actually, and the first thing she had stopped doing after returning to Flint was opening the windows in the morning. Although, Hunter Estate lay a little outside of Flint, the stench of dead fish, cars, and ...humans had bothered her.

“Did you build this house all by yourself?”

Malcolm nodded and let his eyes wander across the mismatched shelves on the walls, the wanky brick wall behind his furnace and lamps hanging unevenly from the ceiling beam separating the kitchen from the living-room corner. He remembered placing every nail and cursing his heart out more than once when something wouldn’t go as planned.

“My brothers helped me a little.”

“So you have a family?” Cate asked before she could stop herself.

Malcolm’s featured darkened suddenly. “I’m not a Baby of the Hunt if that’s what you were asking.”

“No, I-”

“I know who my parents are and they -” He cut himself off before he raised his voice too much. Without a word, he stood up, cleared the table, and ripped the door to the mudroom open. “I’ll be out for the a couple hours. I’d be very thankful, if you could let Bella out around ten. She always needs a few minutes to do her business before she comes back in. Her dinner in in the fridge. Has her name written on it.”

And with that he slammed the door shut. A moment later Cate heard the engine of a big car rumble alive and headlights illuminated the trees in front of the house.

Bella rose from her bed and lay her head on Cate’s lap. Her eyes uttered the silent request to pet her and with nothing else to do, the Omega followed her request. They moved over to the couch and Cate helped the heavy dog up next to her. “You’re master is pretty weird.” Bella let out a deep moan and lay down, her body pressed tightly against Cate’s.

The Omega had almost fallen asleep to the soothing crackling of the furnace when she suddenly heard voices outside.

Cate sat up and alerted Bella with her movement. That damn shoulder began hurting again, so another pill was necessary, but not when some strangers crept around the house. Cate’s heart sped up when the voices got even louder, but still unintelligible.

With shallow breaths, she sneaked over to the mud room and opened the front door to hear if it was maybe just Malcolm coming back. But why would he bring someone with him? Why hadn’t she heard his pick-up rumble home?

Cate opened the door a little wider and could make out three shadows about 10 yards from the cabin. The porch’s fence was hiding her from view and she could watch the figures stumble through the undergrowth. What the fuck were they doing here?

“Dude, you have the gas, right?” someone asked and Cate saw the end of a cigarette glimmer in the darkness. The voice sounded young, maybe a little younger than her.

“I still think this is a stupid idea, Isaac,” a girl argued. Obviously she wasn’t happy being here.

“Hey, he’s a rapist. I don’t want him anywhere near my mum and sister. What if he rapes you one day, huh?”

And Isaac took it upon himself to save the world from Malcolm? She still didn’t believe that he had raped someone. He didn’t fit her image of a power hungry sociopath or misogynist. The door behind her opened a little wider and Bella joined the Omega on the porch. She sniffed the night air and immediately started growling.

Cate shushed her quickly and tried to think of a way to shoo the teens away without having them run to the police. She didn’t want Bella to barge into them like a wild boar and find herself on the receiving end. As much as Cate trusted Bella to have a fighter’s heart, she was only a fat labby.

“But setting his house on fire?” a third voice asked and Cate sucked in a shocked gasp.

“He’s a rapist, for fuck’s sake. Cole said he’s probably also a murderer. That car that crashed on the road to East Carbon was covered in Omega scent. When he came to question him today with my dad, he wouldn’t let them search his house.”

“And you think he’s a killer because...?” the girl asked and the steps over the rustling leaves suddenly stopped.

“Because why not let them check the house and his workshop if he has nothing to hide?”

“My dad always says to never let anyone in without a search warrant,” the second boy said and the stench of gasoline pierced Cate’s nose. They wouldn’t actually burn the house down, would they? All the lights were on. They had to know someone was home.

“Hey, Isaac, didn’t you say you saw his car leave?”

“Yes, why?”

“There’s light.”

Cate breathed a sigh of relief. At least the girl had a functional brain.

“What if the crashed Omega is in there?”

Isaac let out a mocking laugh. “Then why didn’t she call for help when police was searching for her, Amber? He probably just left the light on to make sissys like you believe he is still home.”

Dumbass. Cate couldn’t keep her eyes from rolling. Maybe because the crashed Omega didn’t want police to find her, she hissed internally. Or she could have also been unconscious or gagged, hidden away in the lower level, where Cate imagined Malcolm’s workshop was.

“I don’t know,” Amber mumbled and let out a deep sigh, “I still don’t think it’s right.”

“Then give me the matches and piss off! And don’t even think of telling anyone!” Isaac shouts echoed from the tall tree tops. He was definitely certain that Malcolm wasn’t anywhere near.

Bella let out a deep growl in return and dashed down the stairs before Cate could grab her by the collar.

“Fuck!” Amber cried and footsteps quickly moved away from the house. Suddenly a slither of light moved across the tree trunks and Malcolm’s car engine gurgled closer.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing here!?” he yelled, but received no answer. The engine stopped and a car door slammed shut. “Hey, Bella, did you get them? Who was it? Sheriff Nelson’s biggest mistake and his minions?”

Cate let out a short sigh of relief and stood up when she was sure that they were alone now.

“Hey,” she greeted him from the porch, and startled the Alpha who knelt next to his car and rubbed Bella’s full belly.

“Hi. You okay?”

Cate nodded in the warm glow coming in through the half-open front door.

“They had gasoline and matches.”

His featured darkened and after a quick sniff, Malcolm found the jerry can by the side of the house. Even from up here, Cate could smell the seething anger tinting his scent when he stood up and grabbed the can, giving it a good shake. It sounded pretty full to her.

“Gas for free,” Malcolm said after a moment and disappeared out of her sight for a second before he suddenly appeared through the third, unnoticed door in the mudroom behind her.

“I could hear two names, Isaac and Amber. There was also a third kid, but I didn’t catch his name. Sorry.”

Malcolm nodded without looking at her and shrugged off his leather jacket before neatly placing it on the only actual coat hanger on the wardrobe.

Why didn’t he say anything? Why wasn’t he smelling the least bit angry anymore? Those kids had just tried to burn his house down! “Are you just gonna do nothing?”

“What am I supposed to do? Hunt them down? I know their names and where they live.”

“Isaac is the Sheriff’s son, right? Is that why you won’t do anything?”

“Yes, Cate. I wanna live in peace and keep a low profile. Accusing a bunch of kids of attempted murder or arsoning would do me no good.” He toed off his shoes and moved into the living room, pulling a book from the shelf next to the furnace. He checked the flame and disappeared out through another door onto a balcony to get more firewood.

“And what if you hadn’t returned just in time to scare them away?”

“Bella scared them away. I almost ran her over when she dashed across the driveway after them.” Malcolm turned around and regarded her for a moment. “She might look like the Blob, but she’s vicious when someone comes near the house. You were in good paws.”

He turned to leave, but stopped halfway and looked at her again, “Good night, Cate.”

“Good night,” she replied, although she wanted to say something very different right now. One word repeated in her head over and over again and brought her blood to a boil.

Coward.

 


End file.
